Did two bullets cause World War I?

One-way people believe World War I started was because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of Austrau Hungary he and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian assassin on 28 th June 1914. The conflict between Serbia and Austrau Hungary caused the involvement of the triple entente and the triple alliance because of Serbias alliance with Russia and Austrau Hungary's alliance with Germany and Italy. Franz Ferdinand death was only a shortterm cause of World War I there were many long-term causes like imperialism, militarism and alliances. Imperialism was one of the long-term causes of world war I. Imperialism is a thing to do with empire like Germanys jealousy of Britains Empire because Britain had the biggest empire and Germany only had a very small one. There was also conflict between Serbia and Austrau Hungary due to imperialism. This was because Austrau Hungary's empire had control over many different races this included some Serbs and they wanted there freedom. Austrau Hungary didnt want them to have their freedom because they believed this would be the downfall of their empire. Britain had the largest empire, which stretched, all over the world, which meant many of the other empires, were jealous of Britains power and wealth. Germanys Empire was only very small and when there was a scramble for land in Africa Germany only got a very small part that was the same size as what Belgium got which was smaller and less powerful than Germanys. France ruled over most of Africa they owned the most amount of land this was most of there empire. Militarism was another long-term cause of world war one, militarism is when a country is preparing for war by gathering its army, developing weapons and making war plans. One of the plans that was made for world war one was the Schlieffen plan it was made by baron von Schlieffen who made it so Germany could avoid fighting on two fronts (France and Russia). The plan was to go through Belgium and go behind the French army who were on the French and German border waiting for Germany to attack and take Paris. Germany was also at war with Russia so they needed to take France while Russia was gathering its army then Germany would go and defeat Russia. However they met problems because Russia gathered there army quicker than Germany had predicted

they would and also Britain prevented them from going through Belgium. France also had a plan it was called plan 17 they planned to take Germany by force to just rush in and take the German army. This plan was never put in to place because France realised they hadnt got the power to defeat Germany on there own. There was a naval race between Germany and Britain they were trying to build as many dreadnaughts as they could. The dreadnaught was a war ship it had five two gun turrets and travelled at 39km/h. Britain had the largest navy and built 29 dreadnaughts in total and Germany only built 17. There was also a big difference in the countries armies like Britain who hadnt got the biggest army but what they had got was well trained and well equipped unlike Russia whos army was huge but was untrained and was not equipped adequately. Alliances is the third long term cause of world war one alliances is when countries join together and say that if one of them gets in to a war with another country the countries they have an alliance with will help them. There were two main alliances the triple entente and the triple alliance. The triple entente was the alliance between Britain, Russian and France, Britain also had an alliance with Belgium but Belgium was not part of the triple entente Russia also had a separate alliance with Serbia. The triple alliance consisted of Germany, Italy and Austrau Hungary however later in the war Italy broke of from the triple alliance and joined the triple entente because the triple alliance was losing. The event that finally set the war of was the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie when they were on a visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia on 28th June 1914. There were two attempts to assassinate them that day the first was when a bomb was thrown at their car and the archduke deflected it which in turn injured some civilians. The second attack was when the car they were in made a wrong turn and had to turn around when Gavrilo Princep was walking past who was one of the assassins who had helped with the previous attack. Gavrilo shot Franz in the neck and Sophie in the stomach both of them died Sophie instantly and Franz in hospital. Gavrilo Princep was a Serbian assassin he was a member of the Black Hand gang he was caught and imprisoned immediately after Franz and Sophie Ferdinands deaths. Even though the long term and short-term causes are very different there are some things which link them together. Firstly the death of Franz Ferdinand causing war to break out between Serbia and Austrau Hungary that in turn got the triple entente and the triple alliance involved. There is also the link between alliances

and militarism because Britain had an alliance with Belgium so when Germany went through Belgium to get to France Britain got involved to protect Belgium. In conclusion I think that the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand did not cause world war one. There had been tension mounting between the country for quit a while and they were just looking for an excuse to go to war. Anything could have set it of it was just by chance that the assassination set it of. If there had not have been all of the tension then Franz Ferdinands death probably wouldnt have had a big impact at all.